Printer Tray = Lego Men Storage

Of course I picked up this idea on Pinterest.

I already had the printer tray in the garage waiting to be used. I bought two in Frankenmuth over a year ago when I only planned to buy one, but they were half price, therefore the reason for buying two.

I'm glad I did now.

I used a couple of hooks and picture hanging wire on the back to hang it on the wall. To help keep it stationary, I used a command picture hanging hook on each of the two bottom corners.

It's hanging on the half wall outside Caboose's room by the stairs. That way if the little men (or whatever they are) fall off, they won't get lost behind a piece of furniture.

Fabric-Covered Magnetic Necklace Holder

This project ended up being a little more time-consuming than I originally thought it would be. I thought I'd go to Michael's, find a steel magnetic board kind of like the dry erase boards, cover it in fabric, and be done.

Michael's doesn't sell those and doesn't know who, if anyone, does. Michael's is also in the same strip mall as Home Depot for me.

So I started out by purchasing a basic black 16x20 frame (40 percent off last week). It was the kind that already has double matting in it with spacers in between the mats. Even though you won't use the matting, this is important because you need room for your materials that you're putting in your frame. If you buy a basic frame, you might not be able to get the back on and the metal things slipped back in the slots, even with the glass out.

I went to Home Depot and bought two pieces of some kind of steel. I had a guy help me. I had to buy two pieces because singularly they weren't big enough. They had to be cut, and I was disillusioned to find out that Home Depot doesn't cut everything for a price. But the guy that was helping me used to work in metal and cut it for me. I had it cut 15 7/8" x 19 7/8" because I knew I'd be wrapping some fabric around the edges and I wanted it to go back in the frame. Good thing I did since it was a snug fit on one of the corners.

I bought the cement the guy recommended. It went on like rubber cement, and then I put the metal on a thin piece of board I bought and had cut to size.

I covered it with two layers of white muslin. I just pulled it taut and hot glued it down.

I could still see the line faintly through the muslin where the two pieces of metal met. If I'd used something darker or with a print it wouldn't have shown. I decided to hot glue a cute piece of ribbon across the middle where that line was.

I used my magnets I made in lots of different patterns. Since it's in my bedroom and my walls will be blue, I didn't want the background to compete with the wall and I wanted to use all my fun magnets.


I have a bracelet that I wanted to hang up but was too big for a magnet to hold. I hot glued two extra magnets to the back.

Now it's perfect!


I had half of these out on my dresser and the other half were hanging on my lamp from the little knob that you use to turn it on. This is so much better!

I'm linking up to Made by you Mondays at Skip to my Lou.

Puzzle Reorganization

Tonight I tackled our puzzles.

I'm in one of those moods where I need to reorganize everything. It just doesn't seem like things are working anymore.

I think part of it is that as the kids get older and life happens, things have to be tweaked.

I also think that I'm used to moving every few years having been a military family for 20 years, and now that I've been here about two and a half years my body clock is telling me it's time to move again.

Well, we aren't moving again, so I've been getting rid of things (which you haven't seen) and I'm reorganizing things in ways that work better for us.

This is the before picture:

It wasn't bad, but I felt like it could be better. Those puzzles are two deep on that bottom shelf also. It's very deceiving how many puzzles are in there.

This is what it looked like when I was finished.

I cut the top off the box and stored it in the ziploc with the puzzle. You've probably seen the idea before. I used to do that with the girls' puzzles about 13 years ago but then when Caboose started doing puzzles most of his were the Thomas puzzles that had three to a box. Those boxes were sturdier than most so I got out of the habit.

By the way, there are almost 50 puzzles in those baskets! See how deceptive that looks. We're obviously puzzle people.

I started another organizing/reorganizing project as soon as I was finished with the puzzles. I'm on a roll!

Game Cabinet Reorganization

Our game cabinet was originally a storage for my scrapbook albums and supplies when we lived in Illinois and then again when we moved to Virginia. Now I am fortunate to have an area where I get to spread out and I have room for all my scrapbooks and the mass of products that follow them.

So I used the storage armoire for our games. We have a lot! We like to play games!

So this is what the game cabinet looked like until about six months ago (which means for about two years).

About six months ago I was searching for a spot for Hubby to put his things. Books and papers and notebooks and stuff when he brought them in the house. I gave him a basket-type box, but it was out in the open and usually overflowing so it just wasn't working.

The kids and I went through the game cabinet, purged what we thought we could, and gave Hubby the middle shelf. (This is where I wish I had a before picture from this morning.)

Our games were just not fitting very well though. They were hard to get out, if we had a new one it wouldn't fit, etc. Then I remembered an idea I saw in a magazine several years ago.

They used expandable scrapbook organizers to score game pieces. In the idea they actually hung the game boards on the wall behind a sofa. I didn't go that far.

The expandable organizers I purchased are called memory keepers. They are polypropolene and will hold a 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper, if you so desire. They have an accordion fold on the bottom for expansion, and there are two snaps on the top flap depending on how full you fill the organizer. They come in packs of 10 or 12 at Michael's (and probably your other craft and scrapbook stores) and the weekly coupon would knock the price down. They were already on sale this week.

I was able to get rid of all these boxes. Many were bent and falling apart, or much too large for the game they were holding.

This is what they look like now:

Here's a dinosaur game we've had forever, and the board folds up into a square shape so it was able to go in the pocket as well.

Clue:

Dora Candy Land (all the boards that don't fit in the pockets are folded up on a shelf...I'm going to use my labelmaker and put a label on the outside of each one so you can tell which board is which without opening them all up):

Checkers:

Monopoly:

Even Connect Four and Trouble:


Here is what the game cabinet looks like now:

The pockets on the bottom shelf hold card games — Dutch Blitz, one holds several decks of Old Maid (each held together by a ponytail holder or silly band since we don't seem to own regular rubber bands) — you get the idea.

In reality, my labelmaker will probably get a workout because I think I might put a little label on the top corner of each pocket with the name of the game. And if I do one, I'll do them all, even if you can see what game is in the pocket. Because I'm weird that way.

I'm linking up with Thrifty Decor Chick's Organize It Linky Party and Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

Tax Time Tip: Charitable Donations

If you itemize deductions on your tax return, tax deductible charitable donations can be another way to reduce your total taxes.

There are at least a couple of valuation tools on the internet that make calculating your donation so much easier. I remember trying to value donations in the mid '90s and it was always a guessing game.

First of all, if you use TurboTax (and even if you don't), there is ItsDeductible. You can put in the value of non-cash and cash donations, and then when you are preparing your taxes you can import the total straight into TurboTax.

Even if you don't use TurboTax, you can still use ItsDeductible, keep a printout for your tax records or tax preparer, and just put the total of your contributions in your tax return (or give it to your tax preparer).

The Salvation Army also has a valuation tool for charitable donations. It's not interactive but still useful.

One tip for using ItsDeductible, as you finish a page, click to add your items from that page even if you have more to add later. It will not remember them once you leave that page if you don't add them. I entered an entire contribution once and then thought I could just hit "add" and it would take everything I'd entered. I figured it out the hard way.

Intentional Simplification (When Our Basement Threw Up)

Into our garage.

There is a house being built on the lot next to ours now. When we open our garage door, the people working there can see in. I'm pretty sure they think we belong on the Hoarders show.

Do you also notice the lack of photos associated with this post?! Intentional.

The November weekend before Hubby had surgery, he emptied our unfinished basement onto the driveway. He was going to paint the basement floor to minimize the dust (concrete or drywall). Everything had pounds of dust all over it and it needed dusted off before it got put into the garage.

That Saturday while everything was on the driveway it started to sprinkle rain, so stuff quickly got placed in the garage. Stacked, crammed, and filled up. It wasn't pretty. (Guess who's been cleaning off the dust.)

That Sunday he used the shop vac to remove as much dust as possible from the basement before mopping the rest, then painting the floor.

Now comes the job of putting everything back in the basement.

Except we aren't.

I was so proud of myself when I went through memorabilia and reorganized it. But I had a revelation a few days ago and Hubby was on board. The trophies and plaques, why do they need to take up two Sterilite boxes and the space that needs? We are never going to display them. Why are we going to leave them for our kids to go through someday when we aren't here anymore? That's just silly.

So they are in the trash for next Monday.

We are also getting rid of stuff. Extra toys and things that are just taking up space. Ebay has been our friend as has Salvation Army.

I've seen several people picking a word for the year. I'm not sure I could pick one. But I've seen intentional and simplify.

I'm calling this intentional simplification.

I'll show pictures when I'm done, a vehicle fits in the garage properly, and the basement is properly organized.

I'm at least halfway there.

Undecorating

I definitely don't like that word.

I had a nifty idea though on storing my ornament trees. I definitely did not want to have to reassemble them next year.

Take off the top glass ball and put a cork on the knitting needle. I bought corks today at the store when I was buying more plastic containers.

Decorating our tree is often a little more difficult than it should be, and we always have ornaments that we can't seem to locate that are in a box with un-like items, like maybe with stockings or the sit-around decorations. Then we have ornaments strewn all over the place because there are so many in one box, and tissue paper and bubble wrap, and chaos in general.

I knew there had to be a better way for us, and it was smaller containers. I also separated out most of the kids' ornaments into their own boxes. They will either still go on the big tree next year or on a tree in their own room. Either way, that's their box to put on that no one else touches.

I have one box that is just glass balls (special ones). It's the fabric-looking red box on the left. I purchased lots of glass balls on clearance this year that are still in boxes. I wanted them for crafting next year. They are in a couple of large plastic bins on the floor.

Our Hallmark ornaments were another issue for me. Every year we take them out and put them back in the boxes they came in. It's cumbersome. But some of them need to be there for protection. I decided that all of our Hallmark train ornaments could be kept out of the boxes and put in one small box together, simply bubble-wrapped. It will be so much faster. (I kept the boxes and put them in a larger container 'just in case.')

I labeled almost every box. I can see in them now, but next year when we get ready to put things away it will make it much simpler.

Every year when I get out the Buffalo Snow, Caboose gets out some animals and adds them in for decorating. I've taken down the ornament tree, but I'm not sure what the cat's going to do if I take away the rest. He's become rather accustomed to the comfy spot with extra heat from the fireplace. He doesn't have to wait on the vents to blow anymore.

I still have to take the lights off the tree and take it apart. And figure out what to do about the cat.

August and September Clutter Update

I'm not sure if Amy's going to have a link up, but since I didn't get my post up for August, I don't want to wait until the end of the month and be three months behind. So I'll just post my update and then be done with it!

August:

37 items of clothing to Salvation Army (I'm not going to break them down, but I do have them separated on a list for itemized deductions)

September:

53 items of clothing
1 coat
6 hats
1 pitcher
2 decorative boxes
Ice cream maker
Hand mixer
2 hanging shoe racks (because I reorganized my laundry room closet again, which caused me to organize about three other spaces)
3 toys
Bundle of posters
8 books
2 suitcases (returned to their rightful owner...finally)
1 bag of shredding

Total for both months: 119
Total for year (when I started over the second time): 389

I'm going to have to pick up the pace these last three months of the year to reach another 730 in 365. I have a bag of 32 books ready to leave the house, so I have a head start on October!

The 730 in 365 Declutter Challenge is hosted by Amy at The Finer Things in Life.

June Clutter Update

I'm starting over trying to come up with 730 items from June through the end of the year. I got rid of so many things at the beginning (and went way over 730) that I thought it would be a true challenge to do it all over again.

I started the month with a used curriculum and book sale. I sold 69 items during the three-hour sale.

Then at the end of that time there is a lady whose family owns and operates a book store with curriculum and education-oriented books. She looks through your items (if you so choose) and will offer you a price on the things she's willing to purchase from you. Since she's in the resale business I was warned that it was a low-ball price, but I was extremely pleased with not only what she took, but what I was offered.

I know she took my four flashcard sets and at least 20 books, but I'm going to go conservative and just say 24 items. This lady knows just what she's looking for and she is fast. I wasn't smart enough to pay attention when she was flipping through things to count what she was keeping, and there wasn't any way I would ask to count what she kept when she was done and hold up the line. Of course, I didn't even think about it until two days later...

I decided to take the books that were left to the local Barnes & Noble store that has a used book section. I traded in all 67 books and was able to get Hubby's Father's Day gift for a mere 80 cents (you can read about it here).

I sold a Rokenbok firehouse set on ebay that had 87 pieces.

I had a friend offer to let me participate in her garage sale. Of course I'd been taking tons of things to Goodwill thinking that I wouldn't be doing a garage sale any time in the near future and I didn't want to have boxes stacked up everywhere. I scrounged around the night before and found a few things (if I'd had more time I could have found more), plus we had a few large things we still needed to get rid of. From the garage sale:

Bunk beds
2 twin mattresses
Electric clothes dryer
Electric water cooler
Dinosaur posters
1 book
1 file box of card stock
1 card-making book
1 plastic storage box
4 bags of toys
8 Imaginext toys
1 bag of fabric scraps

That comes to 23 items, and it freed up my garage in an amazing way!

All those numbers add up to 270. I'm on my way to another 730 by the end of the year, although I do think it's going to get harder.

Amy at The Finer Things hosts the 730 in 365 Declutter Challenge. It's not too late to join in!

Smart or Cheap?

I've been cutting down on the clutter in my house. I haven't been doing it alone. I've had some help from my family, especially Caboose.

That's probably because he's always been my keeper and stasher of things. He really doesn't like to get rid of stuff. He always remembers something special about an item, or a stuffed animal is just "so cute" or whatever reason.

But he has ruthlessly gone through his stuffed animals (more than once...he keeps going back and trying to slim back more) and has given up more than I want to admit he had on a public forum. He and his brother have given up all the Rokenbok sets except the one they really play with (it's a dueling set where the vehicles battle on a raised stadium platform), he's given up some of his Imaginext sets (the primary toy type he plays with), and some miscellaneous toys that were just taking up space and not really special enough to keep.

I've been going through our homeschool materials and books just as ruthlessly. They're hard for me to get rid of, especially books. I've sold some of the curriculum that we've outgrown (Caboose being the youngest) on ebay, and I participated in a local homeschool used book and curriculum sale recently.

I brought home less items than I took, and there are a handful of things that I can list on ebay. The other 67 books I didn't want to put back on my shelves (I did want to, but I didn't), and I didn't want to hold on to them until the next sale in the fall. One of the local Barnes & Noble stores has a used book section and they buy and sell used books. I decided to take them there and see what would happen, even though I knew I wouldn't get close to the prices I had originally wanted at the used book sale.

When you take items there, they offer you an amount for store credit (that you have to use that day, but on anything in the store), or you can take half in cash. They were willing to take every single book I took in that day, but they were only willing to give me $57 in store credit. There were some really nice books in there, so I had to make a hard choice.

Hubby and I had been at the store about a week ago and he found a couple of birding books that he mentioned he'd like to have for Father's Day if I needed any ideas for him. I didn't even look at them, and I didn't have anything for him yet. I called him on the phone from the store and asked him which ones they were. I was able to get him not two, but three birding books, and after my teacher discount on those, I was also able to get three paperback mystery books for myself (one from the used book area).


So I took the store credit and got Hubby his Father's Day gifts and my bonus books for 80 cents out of my pocket. And the gas to drive to the store and home.

I also have those 67 books out of my house, I don't have to hang onto them or try to list them online, keep the ones that don't sell, etc. I think I would have spent as much as my time was worth trying to make the extra money I thought those books were worth.

Sparky and I had a big discussion on the way home whether I was cheap or smart for getting Hubby's Father's Day gifts that way — discussion instigated by me. After we talked about all those scenarios, she decided I was smart. I'm glad. I think I would have felt bad otherwise.

May Clutter Totals

In the middle of May I did a clutter update which included the following 193 items I had sold on ebay:

20 Homemade Gourmet items (wrought iron, recipe card sets, etc.)
3 Longaberger pieces
125 Imaginext items (sets and accessories - it's more than this, but I didn't count every single little piece) in two different auctions
45 Rescue Heroes and accessories

I still had auctions that had closed but had not shipped out yet, and I also had auctions ongoing. By the end of May, these are the other items I sold on ebay:

72 Disney Narnia Figurines and Accessories
32 Homeschool Books
86 Rubber Duckies
677 Rokenbok Pieces (six different sets)

That's another 867 items.

I made one trip to the Salvation Army. I got rid of at least one of the things in our garage that has been like an elephant. The kids and I actually maneuvered it into the van by tipping it to get the angled top in. It was pretty impressive.

The hutch complete with glass shelves that weren't even opened after we got here, because we simply didn't have a place for it.

So these are the items I donated for May:

1 Hutch
3 boys' jeans
1 boys' jean shorts
6 boys' dress pants
8 boys' knits shirts
2 boys' long-sleeve knit shirts
2 boys' short-sleeve polo shirts
1 boys' long-sleeve polo shirt
1 boys' short-sleeve dress shirt
5 girls' knit short-sleeve shirts
2 men's dress pants
1 ladies' wool jacket
1 ladies' dress shirt
1 VCR/DVD player
1 Narnia game
1 Triominoes game
1 Granny Apples game
1 In a Pickle game

That's an additional 39 items for a grand total of 1,099 items in May, and 1,805 items for the year, and I just started in April! Even if I counted the Rokenbok as 6 sets instead of 677 pieces (and those little pieces deserve to be counted they are such a pain!), I would still be at 1,134 for the year.

I have trouble getting rid of books, and I'm going through all of my homeschool books this weekend because there is a used book sale I'm participating in next Tuesday. I not only want to try to get rid of my excess, because I obviously have it, I am trying to find ways to benefit my family since I don't work outside the home. This is one way I can do that right now.

I suppose I'll challenge myself now and start over. I think it might be harder to do a second time, but I'm going to try my best and challenge my kids too when I need to. Hopefully the book sale next week will be a start.

Amy at The Finer Things hosts the 730 in 365 Declutter Challenge if you'd like to see who is participating or link up yourself.

If It's Not Working, You Can Change It

I reorganized my laundry room and the walk-in closet directly off of my laundry room last year right before Labor Day. You can click here to check it out if you'd like.

The biggest change was adding a white folding table as a folding surface for clothes.

I thought it was a brilliant idea and it would be so helpful for me.

It became a surface for stuff and took up valuable space. I was tripping over the laundry baskets that we use to sort the clothes that need to be washed, plus I'd rather watch a few minutes of tv in my bedroom while I'm folding towels rather than stare at a wall.

So I moved out the table and moved the three laundry baskets over in place of it. I still hang the clothes up as I take them out of the dryer on the rods. You can tell they need to be taken upstairs right now.

Clothes that need folded so they don't get wrinkled do get folded straight out of the dryer, but I just do it over by the dryer. The table wasn't worth it.

It's been this way for about a month and it's working much better.

WFMW — Storing Decorative Flags

I used to fold up my decorative flags and store them in a plastic shoebox size Sterilite/Rubbermaid container (neatly of course, after laundering them when they came in the house from a long outdoor spell and hanging them to dry).

That worked while I had a few. Now I have many. While I lived in Virginia I started storing them in the front coat closet. I hang multiple ones together on a hanger that you get when you buy pants or a skirt from the store (like Kohl's or Penney's or a place like that).

The small garden size flags hang nicely just as they are. I store the larger ones this way too, they just require a couple of careful folds.

I fold them in half one way, and then in half again the other way. They end up being about the size of a garden flag. I hang them with the unfolded ends at the top. That way the hanger won't put a hard wrinkle where it's folded and the hanger clips on. The folded edges are all hanging loosely at the bottom.

I use about four hangers all together for quite a few flags. They can hang in any closet out of the way until you need them. Works for me!

For more Works-For-Me-Wednesday, visit Kristen at We Are THAT Family.

May Clutter Update

I'm calling it clutter, because it is taking up space in our house and we are finding a way to get it out of our house. Most of it is all perfectly good stuff. It's just gotten out of control. I've enabled a certain 10 year old packrat in my house, but at the same time I don't want to warp him for life just getting rid of it, so we're taking steps.

If you read the end of my April clutter post, you'll probably understand a little bit better what I mean by that. To save you a click, by finding something he'd been missing since the beginning of the year that was very important to him, he realizes many other things are just taking up space and keeping him from being able to find items when he wants them.

He's also decided he's embarrassed when company comes over and sees how many stuffed animals he has. Not that he's embarrassed he has stuffed animals, just the quantity.

We'll be inviting company over even more often.

I've been listing items on ebay this month. So far I've had six close, five paid, and five shipped out. I have 29 current auctions still ongoing.

Of the five auctions that closed that I've shipped and gotten out of my house, here's the tally:

20 Homemade Gourmet items (wrought iron, recipe card sets, etc.)
3 Longaberger pieces
125 Imaginext items (sets and accessories - it's more than this, but I didn't count every single little piece) in two different auctions
45 Rescue Heroes and accessories

That's 193 things out of my house that were taking up space!

I'm not even done yet!

Picture courtesy of flickr.

730 in 365 — One and Almost Done

Please feel free to skim through the lists or skip over them. They are in a little bit smaller type.

The first donation on April 15th:

There were more boxes than this and a total of 271 items.

Action Figure 27
Shoes - Casual - Adult 2
Jackets - Adult 2
Bathroom - Shower Curtain Hooks 1
Bathroom - Shower Curtain Hooks 1
Shorts - Jeans/Denim 1
Shirts - Dress Shirt 1
Shirts - Dress Shirt 1
Shirts - Jersey 8
Pants - Chinos/Khakis 5
Shorts - Chinos/Khakis 7
Sleepwear - Lounge Pants 1
Shirts - Mock Turtleneck 3
Pants - Nylon/Athletic 5
Pants - Nylon/Athletic 2
Shorts - Nylon/Athletic 6
ClotSleepwear - Pajama Set 8
Shirts - Polo 1
Shirts - Polo 2
Shirts - Sweatshirt/Fleece 1
Shirts - T-Shirt 12
Shirts - Turtleneck 2
Cassette Tape 5
Children's - Hardcover 9
DVD 1
Dinner Plate 6
Comforters - Twin 2
Pants - Jeans/Denim 5
Shirts - Jersey 2
Shorts - Nylon/Athletic 1
Sleepwear - Pajama Set 4
Skirts - Full-Length 5
Skirts - Skorts 2
Undergarments - Slips - Half 1
Sweaters - Pullover 1
Shirts - T-Shirt 8
Shirts - Tank 1
Hardcover 3
Headband 5
Keyboard 3
Indoor - Lamp Shade 1
Pants - Dress Slacks 2
Shirts - Jersey 2
Sweaters - Pullover 3
Shirts - T-Shirt 1
Pillow 2
Pillow Sham 1
Pillowcases (Pair) 3
Plastic Storage Container 1
10-999 Piece 4
Sheets (Individual) - Flat - Queen 1
Sheets (Sets) - Queen 1
Bathroom - Shower Curtain 3
Softcover 1
Indoor - Lamps - Table 1
Duvet Covers - Twin 1
Suits - Individual Pieces - Blazer 1
Undergarments - Bra 7
Shirts - Camisole 2
Pants - Capris 1
Shirts - Dress Shirt 1
Pants - Jeans/Denim 1
Shirts - Jersey 7
Sleepwear - Lounge Pants 4
Shirts - Mock Turtleneck 8
Sweaters - Vest 3
Sweaters - Pullover 10
Sweaters - Cardigan 2
Shirts - Sweatshirt/Fleece 1
Shirts - T-Shirt 15
Shirts - Tank 4
Shirts - Turtleneck 2
Youth 1
Shoes - Dress - Youth 1
Mittens or Gloves - Youth 2
Brushed Silver Bathroom Lidded Dishes 3
Canvas Bag 3
Large Stationary Wii Wheel 1

The second donation on April 16th, which consisted of 235 boxes:

U-Haul Extra Large Moving Box 24x18x24 3
U-Haul Large Moving Box 18x18x24 27
U-Haul Laydown Wardrobe Moving Box 36x21x10 1
U-Haul Medium Moving Box 18x16x16 40
U-Haul Shorty Wardrobe Moving Box 24x20x34 10
U-Haul Small Moving Box 16x12x12 154

The third donation on April 30th:

It consisted of 127 items, only because I didn't individually count all those sheets of packing paper I donated. The center planned to use them to wrap breakable items they sold. They were excited to be getting it.

Shoes - Athletic - Adult 1
Hats & Caps - Baseball Caps - Adult 12
Shoes - Casual - Adult 2
Shoes - Casual - Adult 1
Shoes - Dress - Adult 2
Boots - Fashion - Adult 1
Boots - Fashion - Adult 1
Winter Scarves - Adult 2
Banana Hanger 2
Bread Pans - Bread Tube 1
Children's - Hardcover 1
Children's - Hardcover 2
Children's - Softcover 1
Children's - Softcover 5
Children's - Softcover 1
Indoor - Lamps - Desk 1
Indoor - Lamps - Desk 1
Dessert Plate 3
Fabric Wall Hanging 2
File Box 1
Glass Tumbler 1
Handheld Game 4
Hardcover 1
Hardcover 5
Ice Bucket 1
Keyboard 2
Measuring Spoons (Set) 1
Pencil Case 1
Picture Frame 2
Candle Holders - Pillar 2
Placemats (Set) 1
Plastic Storage Container 3
10-999 Piece 1
Sheets (Individual) - Flat - Queen 1
Softcover 5
Statue/Figurine 1
Plastic Storage Drawers 1
Table Runner 1
Textbook 1
Trivet 1
Sheets (Individual) - Flat - Twin 1
VHS 3
VHS 1
Wooden Wall Shelf 2
Shoes - Athletic - Youth 1
Youth 1
Boots - Fashion - Youth 1
3 Ring Binder 3
Auto Seat Backpack 1
Brushed Nickel Interior Door Knob 1
Build-a-Bear pjs and slippers 1
Closet Dehumidifier Packs 3
DVD-Video-CD Wooden Storage Tower 1
Design and Drill 1
Egg Boiler-Cooker 1
Globe Light Bulb 2
Hello Kitty Plastic Case-Clipboard 1
Lexmark Inkjet Cartridge No.1 Unopened New 1
OTD Shoe Organizer 1
Oilcloth Playmat 1
Resin Holiday Tic Tac Toe 1
Snowflake Wreath Hanger nwt 2
Snowmen Oblong Decorative Tray 1
U-Haul Large mirror box - 48 x 4 x 33 2
U-Haul Mirror box - 37 x 4 x 27 5
U-Haul Packing Paper 8
White Wreath Hanger nwt 1

When I dropped these items off, I saw some of the boxes I dropped off two weeks earlier being used. Made me happy.

73 items that I threw away:

Broken Ikea Box 1
Undies 4
2008-2009 Planner never used 1
Giveaway book damaged in transit too badly to donate after reading 1
make-up items 14
miscellaneous clothing items torn or stained 52

This doesn't even count the socks with holes that I throw away (of the boys that seem like they come through every single wash!).That makes the April total 706 items! I'm only 24 items from being done, and I have more than that listed on ebay right now.

I've already entered $2,760.87 in deductions using ItsDeductible for an estimated 2010 tax deduction of $703. I did some copying and pasting of my list from there to here of my items. I did not type all these in here.

The best part of clearing out this clutter is what we found. Caboose lost a video game back in January. It's been missing since then, and we've looked in literally every corner of our entire house and vehicle for it. He's been very upset about it, but there's nothing we could do and he's had to live with it. When I was going through the giveaway boxes in the garage, I took everything out to make a list of the items (for ItsDeductible) before I put them back in the box or into another one. His video game was at the very bottom of one of the large boxes. He's bad about sitting his game down as he walks through the garage and then goes to throw a ball for a minute before we leave or take a quick ride down the driveway on his scooter. He probably did something like that and it fell down inside the box.

I was able to talk to Caboose, my resident pack-rat, about how having a lot of unimportant or less important things around keeps us from being able to find what's really important to us. This week we are going to try and make a serious dent in his stuffed animal collection. It's pretty large, but he seems to be ready now.

Amy at The Finer Things in Life is hosting this great challenge. I've linked up here.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway before Wednesday the 5th at midnight!

Nemesis

When we moved into our house in November of 2008, about a year and a half ago, I had the fantastic idea to save all our U-Haul moving boxes and packing paper.

We'd just flatten the boxes out like they were when we purchased them and flatten all the paper back out. Then we'd sell it on Craig's List.

Hubby was never excited about that idea. He was actually quite opposed to it, but he humored me anyway. For the last year and a half actually. These boxes have been his nemesis.

While he was gone to El Paso this week I made some calls and found one of the local charities that would accept the boxes and paper as a charitable donation. We can use it as a tax deduction next year, which is almost as good as selling them.

Plus they were gone when Hubby got home.

I didn't take a picture of the boxes before I loaded them up. I did find a picture of them in the background during the garage sale last summer. You can see some of them stacked up behind the boxes I used as make-shift tables.

That's actually two separate stacks of small boxes, then there is a smaller stack of medium boxes beside them.

Today on the way to the airport I dropped off a full van load of boxes. When I say full, I mean that if I hadn't dropped them off before I picked up Hubby, he would have had to leave his suitcase at the airport. Here's what it included:

154 small
40 medium
27 large
3 extra large
1 lay down wardrobe
10 shorty wardrobes

That's 235 boxes. I kept a few for when I need to mail things, I've used a few for that purpose already, we sold 10-15 at the garage sale, a few larger wardrobes and picture boxes wouldn't fit in the van, and several were damaged and put in the recycle box.

Hubby definitely noticed what was different when we opened the garage door, and he was happy his nemesis was gone.

This post is linked to The Spring Clean Along hosted by Life as Mom.